Gaelic is the ancient, complex and subtle language of the Celts. This
page gives a guide to the pronunciation and meaning of many of the place names
that you will come across in your travels around Scotland and the rest of my
site. The informathion was gathered from a couple of books (I do not speak
Gaelic myself). It does not pretend to teach you how to speak Gaelic but may
stop locals rolling about with laughter as you mangle names. As examples of the
complexity of Gaelic, look at the definitive article ('the'). In the nominative
case ('the hill'), it may be an, am or an t- (masculine);
a', an or an t- (feminine); na or na h-
(plural). In the genitive case ('of the hill'), it may be a', an,
an t-; na, na h-; and nan, nam respectively.
Nouns and adjectives also change spelling and pronunciation in the genitive:
· buirich ('roaring' or 'bellowing') becomes
Meall a'Bhuiridh - 'hill of roaring', · Coire
Odhar Beag, 'the small dun-coloured hill' becomes Sron a'Choire
Odhair-bhig, 'the spur of the small dun-coloured corrie'.

Add to this the confusion of the many attempts of the English to convert
Gaelic into something they can pronounce and local usage of both spelling and
pronunciation.